[EDITORIALS]What’s Metsu’s game?

Whether or not Bruno Metsu, who was selected as a priority candidate for the position of head coach of the national soccer team, will actually come to Korea is still up in the air. Local newspapers in the Middle East reported that Mr. Metsu signed on with a professional soccer club from Qatar. The leaderless situation of the national squad after the resignation of Humberto Coelho in April looks set to continue for some time.
The Korean Football Association is solely responsible for the delay in selecting a new head coach. The negotiating skills and selection process for the candidates has demonstrated the association’s limited abilities. To narrow down the candidates to a single person is a mistake that goes counter to the basics of international negotiations.
In order to hold an edge in negotiations, the association needs to have several candidates. Being singled out for the job, Mr. Metsu who knows all the ropes of the professional soccer world and the money involved, appears to have chosen to negotiate on his own terms with another professional club.
Considering the upcoming schedule for the national team, the selection of a new coach should take place as soon as possible. The squad has to play in the Asian Cup, which kicks off in July, and the qualifying rounds for the 2006 World Cup. As can be seen from the successful stint of Guus Hiddink and the abrupt departure of Mr. Coelho, the role of a coach is crucial. If the vacancy continues over a long period, the morale of the team might decline further and the team’s performance might suffer.
The association needs to contact Mr. Metsu immediately to find out what he is playing at, while contacting other foreign coaches in order to shorten the time in which the team is leaderless. It also needs to consider whether the job should be limited to foreign coaches. There is public sentiment that, given growing domestic soccer skills, a domestic coach should be considered for the job.
The association needs to change the way it operates. Centered on the president, its operations have been regarded as somewhat closed. The association needs to be open to everyone who loves soccer and who works in the industry. Above all, what it needs is a professional workforce that exclusively deals with negotiating.